stuart: we have a report here that this vote in cyprus, whether or not they see private bank deposits or part of them. that vote may be delayed. we have a reporter that says, if they vote yes, they may not get as much money as they thought they needed. as all of this is happening, the dow is barely registering any gain at all right now. gold has turned around. five, six, seven dollars higher. we have a state of flux here. you still maintain that we should be worried here in america. >> gold just reached its highs of the session a few minutes ago it had been lower earlier on. stuart: the markets want to go. they want a yes or a no. charles: we have already scene when you have these giant governments, these welfare

mentalities, it will cost the average person. we saw it in california. the bottom for everyone to understand is when you have these giant governments, it will cost everyone. that is a true story. it has already happened here. stuart: up until now, if you lend money to a government or a bank with a bond issue-- now cyprus is introducing something different. everybody pays for the bailout that is the difference here. that is the switch that cyprus brings to us. we are now out of time. the dow is up 14. it is a state of flux. let me give it to you, dagen and

connell. dagen: wing all or some of your money, i think most people would choose some. connell: thank you, stuart. good morning, everybody. i am connell mcshane. dagen: i am dagen mcdowell. how you can profit. that is straightahead. connell: bracing for a retirement crisis. will lose share problem is a share problem. we are talking about lulu lemon. that stock is lower and it is all because of some see through yoga pants. connell: a senate panel looking at antitrust questions. those stories and much more coming up on markets now. ♪

connell: the state of flux and cyprus. yoga pants. dagen: i told you i wore some lulu lemon pants. i could model those for you. connell: whatever it takes to boost some writings. let's go to nicole petallides. nicole: we stand here all day and talk about the things that we love. the dow is gaining again. right now it is up 17 points. the nasdaq and the s&p are pulling back for the entire month of march. we have seen a lot of all perils with the exception of today and monday. let's take a look also at some names i am focusing on. names like bank of america arming the way.

we had an extremely strong dollar yesterday. that has come off those highs. a different picture today. certainly, there are still those jitters. concern about cyprus and china. we should mention the housing start to climb in the month of february. back to you. dagen: thank you, nicole. connell: highest level close to five years. the economy may be improving. the problem for president obama is his approval rating is not. 47% of americans approving. doug shaw is here to answer that. a record-breaking run last week. you have home production neared the unemployment rate falling. >> first of all, we have dysfunction in washington.

we do not have a budget deal. economic growth was tested in the fourth quarter. there is no sign that it is reviving. there really is no revival on main street. connell: is there something politically bad be done? is there something they are not doing right? shouldn't they be better able to take advantage of the perfect stock market and little bit better economic numbers? i think the president is trying to do that now, connell. reaching out to the public

senators and paul ryan. we made a deal on the but with newt gingrich. the same thing needs to be done now. dagen: something really struck me. i do not mean to harp on it. the average american wakes up in the morning, you tell me how he feels or she feels that deficit with the daily impact. you kind of hurt that a little bit and what the president living in that abc news interview as well. is that a new track for the democrats. >> first, they went too far with the fears of armageddon. the democrats overplayed their hand. on the other hand, it is the case that the ordinary american is in having a better life in their parents.

they are worried about reform plans. they are uncertain and they are nervous. dagen: $17 trillion debt, the average american is not having the impact on the lives. >> i am disagreeing. the democrats overplayed their hand with fear. we have tepid economic growth. we are not seeing the revitalization of the economy on main street. connell: regular people -- >> so-called great rotation into stocks from bonds has not really happened to the degree people expected. a lot of ordinary people who were heavily invested in mutual funds have not come back.

connell: doug, thank you. dagen: watch out for rising interest rates. that will be pain that everybody feels. speaking of rising interest rates and the housing market and home construction is coming on strong. construction of single-family homes. rising in february to the high level in almost five years. anthony sanders is joining us now from washington, d.c. does this offset some of the economic malaise? >> these are certainly good numbers and very welcome for the housing market. there are a few little asterix that you have to put after it. it is not as good as it seems. dagen: why not? >> income has been falling for a number of years.

they are not as well off as they were. we are still seeing a huge inflow of foreign investors from latin america, russia, china -- probably cyprus now. dagen: russia by way of cyprus may be. with interest rates still near record lows, do you think these individuals and families will think to invest in a home, trade up or even buy a new home? >> the interest rate environment has been great for five years now. they are rising from such a low point. i do not think another 100 basis point rise will do that.

the economy slowly creeks upwards, we will see an improvement on the housing market. there was a chart that we had during the bubble. as i said, we have the climbing no class incomes. we have housing prices starting to rise again. watch for a repeat of the previous bubble. dagen: you could see a divergence from not, correct? >> we very well could. fannie mae is purchasing the% down loans again. dagen: diggity dog. uncle sam is standing willing and ready. when it you be a fool not to

take advantage of that? >> there are some people that have certain libertarian market people that would balk at it. i think we are starting to pick up. do not get too excited when all the obamacare taxes kick in next year. i would go into any of the markets like miami. the whole purchase to rent phenomenon, all the investors are jumping in and buying rental properties. the holster is wearing off on that. it did not turn out as good as they thought.

look at those cities. vegas, phoenix, anything -- really, the fed induces this massive wild swing in bubbles. they are not sustainable. just watch out. dagen: anthony, it was great to see you. thanks a lot. connell: great to see you, as always. how about starbucks. this is a headline today. helps to explore different farming techniques. a disease called coffee rust. it has been hidden industry pretty hard.

dagen: you can see through the pants. lulu lemon pulled some of its yoga pants off store shelves. the company claims the mistake impacts 17%. it was made by a supplier. lulu lemon offering full refunds to customers. they are trying to figure out what exactly happened. it is hard to make up a story this good. shares are down more than 5% today. connell: it is like christmas for dagen. dagen: haven't you ever been in an exercise class where someone is wearing pants that are worn out in the fanny?

well, i have. i going to bring it up again in about a half hour just because. connell: drivers in main page premiums well below the national average. good savings in maine followed by iowa and north carolina. you have louisiana and michigan. dagen: new mexico where virtually no one has car insurance. connell: treasury secretary jack lew meeting with the chinese. on the agenda, some of the growing concerns we have. dagen: not confident they will recover comfortably. americans are not stocking away enough money. take a look at how oil prices

are doing today. almost $94 a barrel. still stubbornly high. ♪ investor. yeah, i'm a serious investor but i'm a busy guy. it used to be easier but now there are more choices than ever. i want to know exactly what i am investing in. i want to know exactly how much i'm paying. i want to use the same stuff the big guys use. find out why nine out of ten large professional investors choose ishares f for their etf. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus which inclus investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. risk includes possible loss of principal.

♪ (train horn) vo: wherever our tras go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities.

dagen: we love charles payne. he is coming up. right now it is stocks now nicole petallides. nicole: we are going to take a close look at block. they will lay off nearly 300 employees. 3% of its total workforce. this is according to an internal memo. blackrock is the world largest money manager.

today you can see the stock not reacting to much at all. the dow up about 28 points. there is a nice one your chart on blackrock. year to date, it is up about 23%. as far as the banks, the banking index, they have all of the aeros. back to you. dagen: thank you, nicole. connell: time to make some money out with charles payne. is that good news or bad news? dagen: for the stock? they are not tight, are they? charles: talking about your

traditional yoga pants. >> i will give you a thousand dollars if you do -- [ laughter ] charles: the airline is doing pretty well. stocks acting really great here. by the way, it is not the best airline out there. frontier airlines just got hit the highest complaint. stocks have a nice breakout year. on the website, they have 51 job openings. the company certainly seems to be growing. earnings estimates for this fiscal year and next fiscal year continue to move higher. you could still probably get a nice trade on there in a short period of time. i have to ponder it.

connell: are you going to talk about lulu lemon in the next hour? charles: a little more on the fundamental side. it is sort of influx. it is at a crossroads. dagen: they are great at refreshing their products in the stores. this will show up with 17% of their bottom. connell: thank you very much. charles payne. dagen: no dow that. charles: i have to figure out what that downward dog is first. dagen: i will show during the break. this ceo testifying right now in front of the senate judiciary. rich edson join you with a live report. connell: when it comes to retiring, americans are not

feeling all that confident at all. we will talk about that. let's first take a look at some of the world's currencies today. see how everyone is faring against the dollar. keep it here. markets now continues. yoga pants and bunch more. ♪

on

>> i have your fox news admitted. a mortar exploded in nevada killing seven marines and injuring at least seven others. the expulsion occurred late last night. the identities of the marines have not yet been released. the supreme court in a six-three vote throughout a copyright infringement. a graduate student sold cheap foreign copies of textbooks on ebay. a rare occurrence tonight, vice

president and the president will be the air simultaneously. the expected overlap will be approximately an hour and 20 minutes. those are your headlines. back to dagen and connell. connell: questioned by senate committee regarding concerns that the proposed merger will reduce competition and raise ticket prices. rich: it seems like we do this every so often here on capitol hill. two airlines looking to merge. plenty of the same questions that we have been hearing over the last few years. question is to whether a merger would eliminate routes to underserved cities and questions about fare increases. >> in our analysis, there is not

one fare increase in there. putting two networks together, that will allow us to attract more customers. fewer airlines mean less reason to resist fare hikes. rich: fare increases have been less than inflation, especially when you consider how much fuel has gone up in the last decade. also, on top of this, they claim that only 12 of the 900 domestic routes are overlapping when you consider both airlines. there is still plenty of process. wilbur, american airlines still in bankruptcy. back to you. dagen: thank you so much for that. as long as the service improves on american, i would vote for them. connell: not saving enough?

apparently, a lot of people are not. before here are some of today's winners on the s&p 500. ♪

>> announcer: you never know when, but thieves can steal your identity and turn your life upside down. >> hi. >> hi. you know, i can save you 15% today if you open up a charge card account with us. >>ou just read my mind. >>nnouncer: just one little piece of information and they can open bogus accounts, stealing your credit, your money and ruining your reputation. that's why you need lifelock to relenessly protect what matters most... [beeping...] helping stop crooks before

your identity is attacked. and now you can have the most comprehensive identity theft protection available today... lifelock ultimate. so for protection you just can't get anywhere else, get lifelock ultimate. >> i didn't know how serious identity theft was until i lost my credit and eventually i lost my home. >> announcer: credit monitoring is not enough, because it tells you after the fact, sometimes as much as 30 days later. with lifelock, as soon as our network spots a threat to your identity, you'll get a protive risk alert, protecting you before you become a victim. >> identity theft was a huge, huge problem for me and it's gone away because of lifelock. >> announcer: while no one can stop all identity theft, if criminals do steal your information, lifelock will help fix it, with our $1 million service guarantee. don't wait until you become the next victim. you have so much to protect and nothing to lose when you call lifelock now to get two full months of identity theft protection risk free. that's right, 60 days risk-fre

use promo code: gethelp. if you're not completely satisfied, notify lifelock and you won't pay a cent. order now and also get this shredder to keep your documents out of the wrong hands-- a $29 dollar value, free. get protected now. call the number on your screen or go to lifelock.com to try lifelock protection risk free for a full 60 days. use promo code: gethelp. plus get this document shredder free-- but only if you act right now. call the number on your screen now! dagen: cyber threat. treasury secretary goes to china with a tough warning about chinese spying on our government and our businesses. a retirement crisis. coming or here right now? workers have saved far too little for retirement. will you have to bail them out? and march madness.

yet another way that you can watch the action and still keep your job. we're talking twitter straight ahead. connell: let's go back to the stocks exchange here. what are you looking at? boeing this time? >> that's right. dow components, boeing, they won a big contract, $15.6 billion contract. it's a deal and this is for ryan air. and this is also for 737, 800, the next generation planes. $16.6 billion. it will expand ryan air's fleet more than 30% and provide a crucial boost that boeing could use. also want to take a look at the boeing stock. it's on the move and i'm looking at the boeing numbers here. up over 13% for boeing but this is a big one and these passenger jets hold 175 passengers.

dagen: thank you. connell: these comments attributed to u.s. officials describing the treasury secretary as being candid and direct in the fist meeting with the chinese president. dagen: reports of a chinese military unit likely behind a series of hack attacks in the united states. peter barnes is in the beltway with more. >> cyber security, one of the issues the treasury secretary brought up with the chinese president, his first trip over there. they also talked about the global economy, including cyprus as well as property. north korea described this as a get acquainted session. the treasury official saying, quote, it was a warm and wide ranging discussion but secretary lou was candid and direct in his comments. leading up to the meeting, obama administration had elevated charges against the chinese over

increased hacking of u.s. companies, some tied to the u.s. military by a private security firm. >> it's the american business community that's getting killed by cyber espionage from china and they're the ones that are supposed to be the voices of reason. you take the business community support away from the bi lateral relationship, you have a lot more possibility for problems. >> but the new chinese leader said beijing wants strong ties with washington and cooperation between the u.s. and china. china has denied it is behind these cyber attacks and insists it's a victim, too. the u.s. and china will hold a round of strategic talks in june. dagen: peter barnes for us. he was talking about the cyber discussions in a big role in secretary lew's visit to china. we've been talking about it as well on this program, "markets

now." we had this sobering statistic. watch this. >> china is carrying out 10 times the scale of economic espionage as the whole rest of the world put together. when china steals business secrets and technology, it matters more than if a country like, say, japan or france does. connell: i want to talk about investing in china, about the relationship between u.s. and china but this issue of cyber security, the cyber war, how has that changed the security here, especially recently do you think? >> it's basically the same old story where china and the united states are friends and we still can't really figure out exactly the relationship. i think the cyber security threat has been there. 2009 actually chinese hacked into our system and the fighter

strike program. the u.s. has basically changed strategy. connell: since that story came out about the building in shanghai, ever since that and i don't think it's just us but we've been more focused as well but since that story came out, it seems like people are looking at china a little differently than they had, even the people who had come out and said and been proponents of the economic opportunity over there but investing in china, how we need them and they need us, seems like a different attitude. you don't sense that? >> we absolutely do. i think it's different, especially with cyber security, cyber breaches that i think a lot of countries spy on each other, especially with the national security kind of stuff, right >> but when people do that, you don't release the commercial, the industrial secrets so basically chinese are using a lot of that and creating unfair competition and that's what the world doesn't like. i think the u.s. changed strategy. u.s. has been pretty reserved

about if cyber offensive capability and actually reserving naming china. that didn't work. another saying, hey, it's you and we want to tell you out of the 40 cyber task forces, 13 are offensive. if you attack us, we'll attack you. it's working right now. connell: and they claim fear a victim and we say our companies are and that's the backdrop for all of us. you're a trader and i want to talk to you about investing. we talk about china. it's interesting because our stock market here and use secretary lew's trip there as a backdrop for this. we're showing the s&p 500 against the shanghai composite. this is basically he is versus them, the united states versus china and our stock market has been doing a lot better. why would someone want to invest, given all the risks and everything else, why would someone want to invest in china opposed to having their money at home in the united states? can you make a case for it?

>> you can't. that's why all the money is coming to the united states. even compared to europe. right now economically the world still sort of kind of stagnant but we're still the best house in a rough neighborhood. that's why everybody wants to come to the united states and invest in the united states. connell: has china become an attractive alternative or are you more worried about putting your own money in china? >> yeah. i think china is more of a wild card. i think if it does work out, i think you'll probably get more return but the united states a little more stable so it's a typical risk, reward type of scenario. if you want to take more risk, achieve more return or do you want something more stable? if you're look for stability, the united states is actually the place to be over china. however, if you believe that hey, when the world economy does recover and start to be a little more robust, china is probably going to relead again and then

you want to be in china a little bit more. so i think there's a little risk, reward tradeoff there. connell: also good to have you on. thanks a lot. >> thank you. dagen: living longer and saving less. a whole lot less. workers have too little money to retire. dagen: ncaa tournament is tipping off tonight. you can catch all the instant replays and all of that on twitter. we have some new details on all of that so we'll talk about social networking and basketball. connell: you're going to be all over this. you're a sucker for sports information. connell: and treasury yields. right now let's take a look at the 10-year note. under 2% 10-year. wow. we'll be back with more and see if i'm a sucker for this story or not. we'll be right back on "markets now." girl vo: i'm pretty conservative. very logical thinker. (laughs)

i'm telling you right now, the girl back at home would absolutely not have taken a zip line in the jungle. (screams) i'm reallylad that girl stayed at hom vo: expedia helps 30 million travelers a month find what they're looking for. one traveler at a time. expedia. find yours. omnipotent of opportunity. you know how to mix business... with business. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i could get used to this. [ male announcer ] yes, you could business pro. yes, you could. go nation. go like a pro.

>> fox news has learned the votes on both nominations are not expected before the easter recess at the end of the week. john malone's libya media is

buying a stake in charter communications. feeling low in log on to facebook. researchers say looking at your own profile can boost your mood because users typically post positive photos and updates and that's the latest from the fox business network, giving you the power to prosper.

connell: a very important topic right now, race to save for retirement is on, of course, but many are not confident if you look at the new numbers. 28% of americans surveyed by the employee benefit research institute have no confidence, zero confidence that they'll have enough money to retire comfortably. number is up from 10% just five years ago. dagen: mark is cofounder and chief investment officer at highland capital management joining us now. mark, when you have anthony

sanders who teaches at george mason on earlier and we were talking about the declining prosperity of the middle class, how do you get people to change a mindset and that's put away what little excess money they have every month? >> well, confidence certainly is the topic of this survey, right? if you have a lot of confidence, you're going to be investing it somewhere and i think that lack of confidence we've seen across the capital markets have been really the big issue for the middle class. how do you get to this point, right? in the cycle and still haven't saved for your retirement. stock market has doubled since the bottom. we're up 16% last year on the s&p 500. we're up 9% already this year. you've already seen a whole year's return in three months. so if you're not ready at this point because you're not invested and i think that's part of the problem with a lack of confidence across the system so we've got to create more confidence first of all, and creating confidence is something that i think investors can get

to. connell: do you sense some people just don't have the money to put into -- don't have the cash to invest? they've struggled, the incomes are not going up and they would love to be in the market but they can't be. aren't there a lot of people like that? >> yeah. connell: what do you do about that? >> i don't think that will get better. i think you have to make some choices in here. certainly people have to work longer, right? but that's part of the -- connell: they're living a lot longer. >> they're living longer and work longer. you want your money working for you so you have to invest. you're going to have to make some decisions around that and we think there are a lot of places to invest today that are -- that represent very nice returns. certainly if you missed a lot of returns already, it's a tough place to be but that doesn't mean you're not supposed to invest in the marketplace. dagen: you talk about investing. if you don't have any savings and you are 70 years of age, ultimately the responsibility is going to fall on, well, the

federal government. and you have an unwillingness to fix social security versus medicare. medicare is going to be the same situation. is that ultimately what we're facing in this country, if you have so few people socking away money for their own retirement? >> i think it's a two edged sword when you talk interest rates. fed will talk about what's going on with the committee. we think that they continue to press a bet. there's no way you can really slow down what's happening as far as the quantitative easing in a market like this so what does that mean? it means that interest rates will continue to be low. it means that the federal government really will continue to have to foot the bill for a lot of the retirement of people like that, that don't have retirement. connell: i'm a little skeptical of studies that sometimes we want to make things look worse. some companies want to say nobody is saving for investment. come here. save with us. maybe it's not as bad.

dagen: or the federal government because they need in the short run for people to buy their government bonds. connell: or maybe it is as bad as they think. >> it's not that bad. connell: there you go. good to see you, mark. let's go to back to nicole here. what are you looking at? >> taking a look here at the airlines. as we talked about, boeing ordering 150 new jets, airplanes from boeing. we moved on to the actual airlines and you take in a trip, do a business trip or a trip for pleasure, take a look at the group. delta not only many of these are winners year to date but they're hitting 52-week highs today. some have pulled back but we're seeing some names really jumping. for example, delta is up about 40% today. southwest airlines working on a new campaign. obviously we've seen a lot of consolidation in the industry. we've seen them getting full to capacity, cutting costs and obviously something is working

right because you are seeing the group doing particularly well. let's take a look at the major market averages right now. the dollar just slightly stronger. and you see the dow higher, up about 21 points and the nasdaq and the s&p 500 virtually flat. back to you. connell: thank you. dagen: catch all the march madness action. video highlights starting tonight on twitter. connell: on twitter? here are some details. dagen says i'm going to be a sucker for this story. >> do you like basketball? you like twitter and wasting time while you're at work so there you go. it's a little something for everyone out there. yes, it is basketball fans' dream come true. it is the kickoff of the march madness conference today. we talked about it. 6 chl. -- 6:40 eastern time. you'll be able to watch live action video clips and tweets all in the same place. tonight just minutes after the game begins, you're going to be

able to start seeing 15 second video highlights if you go to the website which is twitter.com/march madness. you can subscribe to that site on twitter and it's a type of partnership tested last year and gaining full speed and full traction this year thanks to ad support from big names, including at&t and coke zero so they're bringing in ad dollars thanks to this. it's not just a win for ncaa and basketball fans and anyone who wants to keep up on the action. this is a key and important step in terms of generating revenue for twitter, of course, because this company has valuation of $10 billion but is only expected to bring in revenues of $545 million and the next big thing everybody is talking about for twitter is going public and this type of partnership, and bringing in money from high profile advertisers is going to bring that road or that road to

i.p.o., going to shorten it, maybe sometime this year or sometime next year. this is the type of stuff that will make it happen sooner. connell: it's a good relationship between twiter and just live events in general. dagen is tweeting during the academy awards, grammys, super bowl. >> and it's watched. that's the keyword there. before it wasn't a lot about video but now you can do everything all in one place. you never have to leave twitter. dagen: i tweet during nascar races. >> i know your tweets well. connell: thank you. good stuff. dagen: again, some of these nascar drivers are hilarious and they have huge following. connell: we know. it's like there must be sometime we could talk about it after, say -- it's basketball. leave nascar out of something. dagen: never. never. small businesses in california, this is a story that ethan

anderson, my time has been talking about for months but they're up for a fight after receiving an unexpected big tax increase from the state and it was retroactive. connell: so we'll get into that. can't we just talk about basketball? here is the nasdaq winners. these are some individual stocks that are doing well. dagen: hamlin got in a twitter fight over the weekend. connell: here's some losers.

today is gonna be an important day for us. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bo ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of america's biggest cities. siemens. answers. you are gonna need a wingman. and my cash back keeps the party going. but myirline miles take it worldwide. [ male announcer ] it shouldn't be this hard. with creditcards.com, it's easy to search hundreds of cards and apply online. creditcards.com.

>> get to the story about small business owners in california. just many are outraged after the state enacted a retroactive tax increase. dagen: by a few years. here is more on this story. hey, william. >> when government needs money, seems as though nothing that some won't do. in california, it means you follow the rules and then the state changes the law, changes the rules and wants basically back taxes for five years plus interest and penalties. so here is the deal. people who invested in small businesses were given a 50% tax breaks and that was the rule and that was the law. suddenly there was an appeals court decision and now the state wanted to claw back not just going forward and change rules. that's what most states would do. instead, they go back and ask

for five years of back taxes plus penalties. for some individuals, it could be over $100,000. the state wanted $120 million extra. california is short of money. that was their way to do it. finally some business guys, and this was basically for startups which california. ed to be tax friendly for silicon valley, san diego and so forth. it did not work out for some people. they said, are you kidding me? i don't have a hundred grand for the state. lawmakers in sacramento are trying to change it. they got a letter saying you have a temporary reprieve until we have the details. they may end up changing the rules but for now, it stands. connell: i like the cyprus comparison. it's not the exact same thing but the idea is the same. thank you very much. dagen: thank you and it was that tax increase on small businesses and then there was the

proposition 30 tax increase that was also retroactive. just by a year but incredible that they could -- well, that they did do that. dagen: more tax talk coming up. are the rich paying more than their fair share? connell: a tax analyst is up next with cheryl. cheryl continues her series, part two of a week long look at tax pain. you can't afford to miss that. it's up next on "markets now." [ male announcer ] ve seen incredib things.

otherworldly things. but there are some things i've never seen before. this ge jet engine can understand 5,000 data samples per second. which is good for business. because planes use less fue spend less time on the ground and more time in the air. suddenly, faraway places don't seem so...far away. ♪

cheryl: we are coming up on the noon eastern time hour of markets now. hello. the tax pain continues today. study after study shows that the rich already paying more than their fair share. heritage foundation senior tax

policy analyst agrees. his ideas how to correct the imbalance. more on the cyber threat. treasury secretary jack lew travels to china with a candid warning about the chinese spying on our government and businesses and is there trouble ahead for the american airlines, u.s. airways merger? senate panel is probing the questions surrounding the merger. that panel is meeting right now. testimony is happening right now in washington. coming up, in a first on fox business interview, we're going to have one of the witnesses who is testifying right now before that committee on why she is opposed to the deal. top of the hour. stocks now every 15 minutes. nicole joining me from the floor of the new york stock exchange with a negative day for the dow and markets overall. nicole? >> really it just now turned negative a short time ago as we've seen the dollar gaining a

little momentum here. a short time ago the dow was in the green but we are seeing some accelerated selling right now. nasdaq down a half percent, much like the s&p 500 and dow one quarter of 1%. housing starts was actually some good news there for housing starts. it rose -- i'm sorry. construction on new homes. 0.8% in february. so that was actually the highest level that we saw in december for housing starts and quickly, must take a look at these financials which yesterday were getting hit, 2% roughly. yesterday we saw the foreign banks down 3%, 4%. back and forth action. bank of america seems to be the one that will hold on at a 52-week high. morgan stanley down. back to you. cheryl: more action to the down soyed like yesterday. thank you very much. we'll see you 14 minutes from now. well, so close but hopefully for the bulls not too far away. s&p 500 almost hitting its

all-time high friday. we came within two points on friday, just missed the mark, though. two trading days later, index is still sitting just a few points below the closing numbers. president of equity management is here. we've been watching and watching for the magic number of 1565.15, we should say, on the s&p 500 and we're not getting it. is this a line of resistance in the sand, do you think? >> a little bit but i think it's one that is easily broken. you know, the last two days obviously it's hard to be bullish on a day we're down today, we were down yesterday but really what this feels like is more pause than any sort of correction or any start of a deluge here. earnings are in place for this year. s&p 500 to get to about 110 per share in earnings and that will absolutely support the s&p 500 going to new highs. shape we came so close last week and there's discussion about the dow hit a new all-time high and

record but it seems that the economy still has got some sitting on the sidelines and there's still a lot of cash on the sidelines right now that is not moving into this market. what gets that investor in? >> i think actually breaking out to new highs on the s&p 500 might be the catalyst to get people off of the chair, so to speak. first off, your comment about the economy and we're hhving a lot of back and forth interimly and with clients about this. there are certainly reasons to be trepidatious about the economy but frankly, we see more positive signs than negative signs. the labor market is doing quite a bit better, the housing market is doing quite well. we have natural gas and oil production leading to job creation, the consumers hanging in there despite a tax increase, et cetera, et cetera. as the news reports start to come in and we think in the next week or so we should be at an all-time high -- cheryl: in the next week or so. >> today and yesterday feels more like a pause in

particularly with what happened to cyprus yesterday and the fact the markets weren't off much at all indicates a lot of people are buying. cheryl: that was profit taking and maybe switching some positions and that makes sense. you mentioned natural gas. you're saying there's a way to play nat gas right now and that this is good for the economy and the united states. >> right. exactly. for instance, there are royalty trusts such as the san juan base and royalty trust that i own and my clients own that is a way of directly participating in natural gas. they sell it on the open market and then distributes the profits of those sale proceeds less their lifting costs to the shareholders. right now the shares are priced based on the low threes for natural gas and the reason for that is there's frankly a delay of about two months between when

the distribution is made to a shareholder and when the natural gas was sold so right now the distributions are based on natural gas prices from two months ago. going forward they'll be closer to the $4 level and that will be showing up in higher distributions and higher share of prices. cheryl: thhy have more than $4 billion sitting in cash so there could be acquisitions for these guys. >> you're talking about intel which is another stock. cheryl: i'm sorry. nnxt stop we're going to get to. >> okay. intel is an american icon. they've been somewhat left for dead thinking that smart phones and tablets are going to eat into the core p.c. business. let's not forget that intel is a $100 billion market cap company with $4 billion net cash. they can raise a ton of cash in no time through the debt market to acquire any company they want to in the mobile phone or tablet space and they're either going to bring that out internally or

acquire a company to get into the space. cheryl: if you look at a one year chart, you can see the volatility. >> right. so don't write it off with a 4.2% dividend yield. this is a great time to buy an american icon which is intel. cheryl: it would be nice to see them get into the mobile market, cloud computing or data storage, anything their chips could work in. it's intel. instill everywhere. remember the commercial? >> right now what's priced into the stock is that they'll never get into mobile or smart phones or tablets and that just doesn't seem to be a rational case for intel. cheryl: by the end of the week, we're -- i'm calling it by the end of the week. you say two weeks. thank you very much on the s&p 500. >> thank you. cheryl: jack lew with some straight talk for china's president. two discussed cyber security and other issues in the first

meeting in beijing. peter barnes has been monitoring events here. what do you know? >> cyber security at the top of the agenda in the meeting with the new treasury secretary and the new president of china. just last month, the chinese military was tied to cyber attacks on more than 140 u.s. companies. analysts described this meeting in beijing as a get acquainted session that will help set the table for future negotiations on this and other issues between the u.s. and china. treasury official saying, quote, it was a warm and wide ranging discussion but secretary lew was candid and direct in his comments. experts say china needs to back off the hacking or risk u.s. retaliation. >> i think cyber is a multi dimensional threat. i think there's a lot of awareness of it in congress. there's a lot of demands for actions against china in particular. i think that's the biggest source of tension in the

relationship and i think china needs to improve its behavior quickly or we're going to have a problem. >> treasury official says that lew and the chinese president talked about the global economy, cyprus as well as foreign exchange rates, intellectual property and north korea. he said beijing wants strong ties with washington and cooperation between the two countries. china has denied it's behind the cyber attacks and insists it's a victim, too. u.s. and china will hold the next round of strategic talks in washington in june. cheryl: and i'm curious if when the talks happen in awash -- washington. one of the top issues we saw in the presidential election, mitt romney very vocal about the fact we cannot trust the chinese. our viewers care about that. do you think we'll get answers? >> as you know, administration

has said that china has made progress on the issue of currencie currencies. i think 10 or 15% according to the former treasury secretary on an inflation adjusted basis so -- but they do want more and congress is, of course, aldz watching this issue because it does affect the trrde imbalance between the united states and china so definitely always a major topic in these discussions. cheryl: right. i can't believe we're still talking about it so many years later. peter barnes, thank you very much and watching our new treasury secretary in china. thank you. >> okay, cheryl. cheryl: yoga pants. yes, i'm talking about yoga pants. are they too sheer? that issue bringing down shares. charles payne will join me whether this is a buying opportunities for a once high flying yoga athletic maker.

and tax pain. are the rich already paying more than their fair share? i think you know the answer to that one. heritage foundation senior tax policy analyst is going to be coming up for part two of our week long series, tax pain. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] how can power conmption in china, impact wool exports from new zealand, textile production in spain, and the use of medical technology in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections oa complex, global economy.

it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. twe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing.

you are gonna need a wingman. and my cash back keeps the party going. but my airline miles take it worldwide. [ male announcer ] it shouldn't be this hard. with creditcards.com, it's easy to search hundreds of cards and apply online. creditcards.com.

cheryl: we're coming up on 15 past the hour. stocks every 15 minutes. we have fox business team coverage for you. bill flynn is standing by the trading pits. sandra is at the daily wizard and charles payne showing us how to make money on l a sheer problem and first nicole on the floor of the new york stock exchange. >> hey, i wanted to take a look here at the major market

averages. down 51 points at the moment. the dollar still stronger. we have seen some accelerated selling over the past 15, 20 minutes. we are certainly watching that. bank stocks have turned into the red and we're also watching headlines out of cypress. there may be a key resignation over there. there were some names on the dow that hit 52-week highs. like bank of america, united technologies all doing well, hit 52-week highs but then pulled back so that's what we're looking at there. so those are the major averages and how they're fairing today. the fear index, we should note, you may remember when it was down below 12. it's approaching 15 now at 14.88 level so that's up 1.52. showing a little fear in the markets, a little nervousness back in here. what's going on in chicago? >> nicole, i think it's the end

of rin-sanity. a break in that market and concerns about demand are driving our futures to the lowest level of the month. and the april contract which will reflect the summertime blends have fallen from a peak this year to 27 cents a gallon lower. that goes very well for the summer driving season and with good refining margins, if we don't have any problems, we'll get a low price for the start of the summer driving season. now i'm going to cross to sandra at the wizard. >> one thing certainly moving markets today is this better than expected housing data. you saw home construction for the last month rising to 917,000 units. this about beat the estimate of 915,000 units. now, while that is better than expected, it's not much better than expected so really interesting reaction coming from the home builders themselves.

but i want to bring up a chart here and actually a year to date chart for that matter. as we do see some mixed reaction in some of these builders, k.b. homes up about 29% so far this year. these home builders have been largely outperforming the broader market. d.r. horton, all between 14 and 29% gains so far for the year. so sort of a sell the news thing here. they've been expecting great news in the housing market and while this was better than expected, it wasn't that much better than expected. one other area to watch if you're watching reaction to the better than expected news is the construction stocks themselves. you've got trex company that's been marching higher. this is a composite decking company. it's getting a nice boost today. this is where we're seeing green. warehouser, a lumber company, up, corning, all of those home construction stocks.

we're seeing a brighter reaction in some of those names today so a little bit of a mixed reaction you could say at this point. back to you. cheryl: you always -- you can't worry about those tiny little pullbacks. thank you so much and phil and nicole, thank you. as promised, the sheer problem. it is time to make money with charles payne and he's taking a look at lulu lemon. >> i've been watching lulu real close. i've been in and out of it a zillion times and this is interesting. this is not the first time they've had the problem. a credibility issue on wall street is pretty big and of course, the credibility issue with your customer $ even a bigger problem. cheryl: explain the problem, though. >> this one particular product was shipped and march 1 they received the product. by march 16 they decided it was too sheer, it wasn't up to their

standards. now, they felt like that was a quick turn around because they had a last year with color fastness and the color faded quickly from the pink tops that people who loved the products, they were all over facebook saying this is a problem and it took a long time for management to acknowledge that. cheryl: and that's a big deal. we're talking about very expensive apparel. we're talking $100 for a pair of pants. >> and a cult-like following. they'll pay a prem yum but you've got to be completely 100% on point. cheryl: this is a credibility issue and i'm glad that wall street is watching it. >> i would not try to pick the bottom of this. they have some tough comparisons to the fourth quarter last year. cheryl: risky-like yield. i'll listen to you, charles. thank you very much. going, going and gone. we'll take you to the auction of

the plush office furnishings of the best. and tax pain. do you think the rich are already paying more than their fair share? think about that question. coming up, curtis dubay will be talking about how he thinks we can change the disparity the tax code. we'll be right back. gotcha !

got you ! you cannot escape the rebel forces ! ahhh. got you ! got ya ! gotcha ! got ya.

that's all you got, other ? take that. never having to surrender the things that matter. gotcha. that's powerful. verizon. woman: what do you mean, homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods? [ heart rate increases ] man: a few inches ofater caused all this? [ heart rate increases ] woman #2: but i don't even live near the water. what you don't know about flood insurance may shock you --

including the fact that a preferred risk policy starts as low as $129 a year. for an agent, call the number that appears on your screen.

>> at 23 past the hour, i have your fox news minute. supreme court in a 6-3 vote threw out a copyright enfringement award to publisher. the top court sided with the graduate student who resold foreign versions on ebay. ruling is expected to impact goods sold on line, thrift stores. pope francis held the inawing rail mass. he urged the protection of the poorest, weakest and of the environment. he said the role of the pope is to, quote, open his arms and protect all of humanity and the rare occurrence tonight both president obama and vice president biden will be in the air simultaneously on separate flights. president will be on route to

israel and the vice president is returning to andrews air force base from rome. the expected overlap will be approximately an hour and 20 minutes and those are headlines. cheryl, back to you. cheryl: thank you very much. everything from stock and statustatu statues to a signed football are going to be recouped. jeff gives us a preview of the auction at the former p.f.g. offices there in chicago. what an interesting experience, jeff. >> this is the vestiges of p.f.g. maybe you see how big this office was. some people call russell the madoff of the futures industry. they revolutionized the futures industry. they were the first to develop electronic platform at the transition from the open outcry to the electronic futures.

i want to show you some things that are up for auction today and perhaps we go into the office as we show you some of those pictures of russell, senior. he's do i go -- doing a 50-year term in terre haute. this is him here appearing in ads and i'll tell you, a lot of this takes on huge ironing. there's p.f.g. best ad. that's what happened when it comes right down to it, spending a lot of other people's money to the tune of $200 million. it starts for peregrine financial and there's all sorts of symbols of the falcon around here and pictures. you said that football, cheryl.

the 2006 chicago bears thank you for your support. it's amazing how much support you can provide when you're spending somebody else's money. this auction open today for bidders to come in and take a look and then it goes tomorrow to auction, both electronically and we'll provide that link for you so if you would like a piece of p.f.g. best, you can get it yourself. cheryl: and you can go to fox business.com, of course, to see more on that auction that jeff block is covering out of chicago. a first on fox business reaction to the cyprus bailout president was dennis. he's the former cyprus trade representative to the u.s. and current vice chairman of the cyprus u.s. chamber of commerce. that is coming up in the 1:00 p.m. eastern time hour of "markets now." bracing for a retirement crisis. workers saving far too little.

we'll have that story for you. and tax pain. the rich paying a big chunk of the federal pie. just how much and is it fair? curtis dubay, heritage foundation senior tax analyst will be joining me as we bring you part two of a week long series, tax pain.

>> 30 past the hour. stocks every 15 # minutes issue and nicole is watching energy names. those names are red today. nicole? >> i'm going to show you the

energy index, down there while gold, for example, is higher. mostly going to gring you to transocean to show you that it's one of the losers here, and we've seen all of these energy names with down arrows, but we're walking here to transocean, which, right now, is down 1.8%. you can see it there. that's certainly one of the laggards. we are seeing energy names under pressure, and a lot of the other names, devon, exxon, and they are lower. what's interesting about transocean, in particular, you may remember the chief executive of the company that owned the drilling rig that exploded in the gulf of mexico back in 2010 says the employees, quote, should have done more to avert that disaster, and don't forget, it killed 11 workers and caused the in this nation's worst offsl spill. the energy names are hurt today. back to you. >> nicole, thank you.

♪ day two of the series "tax pain" focusing on the buffet rule, the 30% minimum tax rate on growth adjusted income over a million dollars, less charitable contributions. is it possible, if democrats have their way, the duff fete rule could be law? policy analyst at the heritage foundation joining me now about the fair share. let's talk about the likelihood of the buffet rule returning and becoming law because of sequestering. how likely is it? >> it's not that likely, but, i mean, just an example of how it keeps me back again and again and again. it's not like the past and the future. >> you know, if you look at what's quote-on-quote, the federal share, 70% comes from 10% of taxpayers out there, and if you look at the bottom percent, completely different story, the bottom 20% pays zero,

overall,47% pay next to nothing, but there's a disperty. why has the message not got across in washington there is a disparity in who pays the most in a dollar amount? >> it's been out for awhile, and people have within talking about it, but it's just fit into president obama's narrative who wants revenue to fund the government spending. easier to raise taxes on the risk, no doubt about that. he hammered that message for a long time and got increases on the rich. obamacare was a trillion dollars over ten years, mostly on higher income americans, the fiscal cliff another increase on the rich. the average tax rate for the top 1% is 36%. the rules are largely, already in place. >> do you think there's a penalty with regards to filing whether you're married or single? that's bapted around with regards to the buffet rule and return of the buffet rule, if

you will. is that on the table? >> i don't know. i have not heard much about it because they didn't specify. they said it was over incomes over a million dollars, per tax term or per person filing? if it's single filer, it's a million, you double that for a married couple, that's a marriage penalty. they introduced marriage punishments in terms of the new investment tax on investments over $250,000. i don't put it past that happening, but it remains to be seen. >> looking at research at the heritage foundation, your group did on the issue, and your calculations show, and it's fascinating, that taxpayers with adjusted gross income would be hit hard by this new tax increase, paying $67,000 more in taxes per year because of the buffet rule. >> right, yeah, and the thing about that, these are business owners. when you get set levels of

income, a lot is business income, take 67,000 from a year, that's one more job well above the median income they could create. for an investor, that's almost $70,000 they can't invest in a promising new business that could create more than one job. it hit job creation, and everyone crees one of the main crisis is job creation. it's fueling inequality that we're concerned about. if we raise tax on the rich, we're going to reduce opportunity for middle class and low income americans. middle class families are less likely to fund the job that makes them move to the better neighborhood, better education for the child, and it's harder for lower income americans to get the first job, gain skills and experience they need to climb the income ladder later in life. >> what's interesting, you know, the top 10% pays 70% of the income at the federal level. 1986 #, curtis, that was 55% of income. that income, that federal income

into the coffers which congress continues to spend at will, frankly, has gone up for the top 10%. that includes small businesses. thank you very much for joining me on this issue. it affects a lot of people. >> thank you for having me. >> coming up tomorrow, we are going to continue our series. you are not going to want to miss friday's show, in particular, though, when i go one on one with gofer norquist the president of americans for tax reform. you know grover thinks, and he'll join me friday and the series, of course, continues all week long. grounding the american airlines, u.s. airways merger. a senate committee wrapping hearings on whether the airline tieup violates antitrust laws. mike thinks so. the committee needed to hear that. director moss joining me now for the first on fox business interview. diana, thank you for being here. i know the hearing went a little bit late, but exactly what would

your recommendations be here? would you say that we should not have u.s. airways and american merge at all, or would you put conditions on the merger? >> yeah, thanks for having me on. that's a good question. you know, at this stage in consolidation after six big mergers that have come through that changed the landscape of the aviation industry in the u.s., that's a tough one. i, you know, the analysis we've done and the discussion we just had points up a lot of really important tidbits that make up the bigger picture. that said, maybe we shouldn't have the emergencier go through. at a min hum -- >> assuming the argument is fares go up, flights restricted; is that correct? >> that is a high likelihood. mergers have not happened yet, so we can't say for sure, but based on delta, northwest, and united continental, similar mergers of legacy mergers,

concentration of major routes, yeah, we'd want a close look at what is likely to happen in u.s. air american airlines. >> well, i can give you a [background sounds] on that because if you lookkat the last year in particular for the carriers mentioned, united or delta, they tried to institute fare increases between 8-12 in 2012, and most did not take effect, so, actually, the prices -- because, frankly, there's no demand for it, the market only spormts certain ticket prices, and i would think the same is true from a market perspective, consumer perspective for american and u.s. air. >> well, it depends on how many choices consumers have, and the analysis done of past mergers is, in fact, we've seen some substantial fare increases. we've also seen delta north wets and united drive traffic to major hubs to feed the global operations issue and those are important hubs, effects for consumers, and what are the options?

low cost carriers provide comparable service? do they travel to secondary airports for service where southwest is now a growing dominance in secondary airports. it's about choice, the ability of consumers to do their thing, and then inject discipline in the market, and with additional consolidation, of course, all of that -- all of that comes into question. >> you know, the ceos, the ceo tom horton of american was that. one of the big contentions of the panel today was the fact hee wants a $20 million pair of shoes, frankly, as he exits the company as chairman next year, the combined parker, the chairman, doug parker, would say. do you have an objection to that? >> i'm not commenting on exit packages. we're worried about competition and consumers to the extent that exit packages negotiated between companies as part of mergers is something shareholders have to

agree to and vote on. we're worried about the effect on diminished competition in the market and the effect on consumers, on american consumers. >> american airways and american west merged, and that took a long time to facilitate, but prices remained stable. that may happen in this as well. we should point that out. thank you very much for your time. >> thank you. >> well, let's move to another side of the industry, boeing's technical workers approve a new contract. the positive news blowing in boeing's direction coming up in your with "west coast minute," e break, the ten-year treasury. there's movement in the upside to prices. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer this is karen and jeremiah. they don't know it yet, but they're gonna fall in love, get married, have a couple of kids,

[ children laughing ] move to the country, and live a long, happy life together where they almost never fight about money. [ dog barks ] because right after they get married, they'll find some retirement people who are paid on salary, not commission. they'll get straightforward guidance and be able to focus on other things, like each other, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. you are gonna need a wingman. and my cash back keeps the party going. but my airline miles take it worldwide. [ male announcer ] it shouldn't be this hard. with creditcards.com, it's easy to search hundreds of cards and apply online. creditcards.com. it's delicious. so now we've turned her toffee into a business.

my goal was to take an idea and make it happen. i'm janet lo and i formed my toee company through legalzoom. never really thought i would make money doing what i love. [ robert ] we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. go to legalzoom.com today and make your business dream a reality. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. ♪ tracy: i'm tracy burns with the fox business brief. heading the fcc moving to the full senate after getting approval frustrate senate banking committee. the panel cleared richard cordray's nomination for the consumer protection bureau. the rate will be over, and bankruptcy court approves the sale of the hostess brands to apollo global. metropolis hope to have the cakes on the shelf in the summer. the judge approved the sale of

wonder and other breads to flour foods. the toy maker, lego, building a factory in china as part of the plan to move production closer to asia, the fastest growingg3 market. they expect the new plant to be fully operational in 2017. that's the latest from the fox business network giving you the power to prosper.

>> getting breaking news in the fox business, i want to show you a couple things here. left of the screen is inside cypress' parliament. there's a debate going on right now on that deeply devicive levy on bank deposits to secure the bailout and avoid defaults. you saw what's happening. that is outside of parliament, the protesting continues as residents are not happy. now, it looks like we're getting word to postpone the vote until tomorrow. that's live pictures on the debate floor in cypress.

outcome uncertain in all of this. the president of cypress warned the assembly they would reject the bill, but it's unjust, and he says it threatens to tip the small island deeper into financial chaos. he threatens chaos if not approved, and residents object to this. we'll, of course, continue to monitor the live pictures from cypress for you. why china matters. treasury secretary jack lew meeting with china's president to put it at the top of the agenda, and joining me from washington, and, nicholas, starting with the currency issue. our viewers have been watching with, frankly, frustration for years as the chinese have continued to, what many believe is manipulate currency, can jack lew be the treasury secretary to turn the tide? >> well, i think we have to look at the trajectory, which is actually, positive; right? the chinese currency appreciated substantially since 2005, which

is when the u.s. government really made an attempt to elevate that issue in terms of the discussions with china, but, overall, does anything jack lew, anything he says really going to change the chinese perspective on management of the currency? no. the currency policy in china is driven by dplessic considerations -- domestic considerations more than internationally. there's a policy because of the inflation concern in china with the strong incentive to allow the currency appreciate. >> nicholas, you talk about the fact they care about their economy, not worried about ours, but, certainly, as a trade partner, the chinese matter to this country, and if you looo at gdp, and we can show it to the viewers, look at the growth in gdp in china, why it is so important to u.s. ambassadors, and this is so important to anyone that is looking to even invest in chinese companies to trade on the nasdaq, for example, they had a growth rate in the economy. is that in jeopardy if they come to the table saying we'll work

closely on currency manipulation or lack thereof, we'll fight it in >> there is a concern, and the concern is about the chinese economy's exposure to the international economic environment in the form of exports; right? i mean, the big advantage of china's currency policy allows them to be more competitive than they otherwise would be rather than selling abroad. as they allow the currency to appreciate more, clearly, they will be less competitive on lower value added manufactured products, but the goal of the government is to actually do that intentionally to shift into higher value added manufacturing and be competitive at a higher set of product offerings so, i think, in general, there's a potential you see continued appreciation out of china over the next couple years, and, at the same time, they compete in the export sector. it will be different industries, different products than what we see made in china products being successful right now. >> all right, nicholas, thank you very much for weighing in on

this. >> thanks for having me. >> time for your with the west coast minute," and boeing approved a four-year contract avoiding the strike replacing pensions with 401(k) retirement plans for new employees. big saga over. the stock is up 51 crepts. small business lending in nevada picking up. the bank lent 14 billion in 2012 to nevada businesses, a 14% jump from the year prior. the data from the small business administration contra digits the notion that banks are not lending. that's according to one bank ceo. and in california, looks like the unemployment rate is remaining stubbornly high at 9.8%, the highest in the u.s.. although, california is tied with rhode island, still, it's california we are talking about. there are sectors in california that are showing hiring promise, technology, energy, and housing.

of course, we'll continue to monitor everything happening in the nation's largest economy. that's your "west coast minute." do you have the brackets filled out? yep, it's march madness. time and ad revenue for the tournament breaks records. will it be bigger than the super bowl? huh, we'll way in, and as we break, look at the winners on the the nasdaq, monster beverage, ebay, vodafone. we'll be right back.

♪ let the madness begin. ncaa men's basketball big dance underway today, and tv ad revenue for the tournament expected to break the bank. diane is on for every good story today. diane: for basketball fans, march madness usually mens for hopes for winning a bracket, a team, and for businesses, reduced productivity because we focus on brackets and teams. select group says advertising is big spending. total television ad revenue for the ncaa men's basketball tournament topped $1 billion for the first time last year, surpassing every other professional post season, and this year, it's expected to be bigger. as of 2011, every tournament game is aired nationally, producing inventory compared to earlier years, and this year, it's cbs, tnt, tbs, and trutv.

the ad haul is expected to top last year when march madness not just displaced national football as the most lucrative post sport, but combine the post season total from baseball, nba, and nhl. with 68 teams competing, there's more games in march madness than baseball's runup to the series, playoffs, and super bowls, but while the championship game hits new highs this year as well, at 1.4 million for 0-second slots, they are well short of the super bowl's 3.8 million. cheryl: so many ways to make money from march madness because of the web component as well. i mean, not that anybody in this building sits around watching basketball today, but maybe they will be. you know, that's happening at offices across the country so that streaming component. i know the networks tried to capitollize on that. >> well, and on that point as well, the numbers employee only to national tv add revenue, so

just imagine the revenue in total. cheryl: a great story and bullish for the economy they spend money. >> hope so. cheryl: diane, thank you. >> thank you. cheryl: tax pain, but this could be your tax gain. frying to have good news. the irs has a billion dollars in unclaimed refunds. you got a couple more weeks to claim it if you think you have money in there. over 984,000 taxpayers who did not file returns in 2009 have until april 15th to file and collect that money. coming up on thursday on our series "tax pain" as we continue, a democrat from california is going to be joining me to talk about what he's doing to keep businesses in his state. small businessman, good friend of the show, joins "tax pain" all week, noon eastern time only on fox business. all right. the headlines fast and curious, breaking news on cypress, and

melissa and lori will have the latest after a quick break. also, exclusive reaction with the president, former cypress trade representative to the u.s.. thereless joining the ladies coming up. stay with uss